County Supervisor Dave Roberts Details Priorities of $2 Billion Health & Human Services Budget
The County of San Diego employs more than 17,000 people, two-fifths of whom devote their work to improving health and human services for county residents. With a budget of just over $2 billion, Dave Roberts describes in this podcast some of the initiatives the county has embarked on to improve foster care and adoption, Alzheimer’s care, mental health, and overall health in San Diego.
“Of the 3,609 counties in the United States, only three have a triple A rating by all three rating services and San Diego is one of them,” says Roberts. “Our county is very efficient and very effective.” In a continual quest to improve their programs, Roberts highlights several initiatives including:
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The Exceptional Family Member program which led to the adoption of 36 foster care children previously “stuck in the system because they were medically fragile, older or a part of a large sibling group.”
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A collaboration with San Diego’s medical community to find funding and pursue a cure for Alzheimer’s, now the third largest cause of death in San Diego County.
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The implementation in spring 2015 of Laura’s Law which will enable families of patients who will not comply with mental health treatment to bring these patients before a judge, hopefully preventing crimes such as the murder for which the law is named.
Listen here: Novel Solutions to Big Problems: San Diego County Initiatives Target Alzheimer's, Mental Health (The Pulse audio)
To listen to previous episodes of the Pulse, visit our archives page on UCTV’s Career Channel.